Adding up the numbers: COVID-19 in South Africa

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has wreaked havoc globally, with over half a billion people infected and millions of lives lost. The pandemic has also interrupted every aspect of our lives, with most governments imposing various interventions and restrictions on people’s movement and behaviour to minimise the impact of the virus and save lives. The debate among scholars on the effectiveness of the interventions and restrictions, particularly in the context of a developing country like South Africa, continues. The data and scientific evidence indicate that non-pharmaceutical interventions, and particularly the implementation and adherence thereto, may have been ineffective in terms of containment in the South African context and had minimal impact in stopping the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.